The 17 days without Domestic Helper

As I am writing this post, I'm waiting for the arrival of my domestic helper back from Philippines who was away from Singapore since 10th February afternoon. We had officially survived the past 17 days without helper. Think we did quite well...

The first 2 days are adaptation period and the boys surprising did not miss Ann a single bit even though Josiah co-share a room with her for more probably the past 18 months. Both boys slept in the same room but it resulted in Felin having almost totally no sleep as she is easily awaken by both boys unlike me who is more resistent to noises.

As Joshua is currently very stickly to Felin, we had decided that I shall sleep in the other room with Josiah. It works better as Josiah moves quite a lot during sleep and I, being the deeper sleeper seems to have a easier time with him.

The first weekdays from 13th to 17th Feb was at the Royal Carribean Cruise. We had a scare initially because Joshua's fever shot up to 38.9C on the night before we travel but dropped to 37.1 just before we left. FIL accidentally damaged the thermometer just before we left for Cruise and we urgently borrowed one from neighbour.

The Days at Cruise wasn't all smooth sailing. Joshua's fever went up on the evening on the first day onboard and the thermometer that we borrowed from neighbour shown 41.2C that made us panicky that we decided to call for the doctor onboard. My suspect that the thermometer wasn't accurate is true as he measured only 38.8C when we went down to the medical centre.

Joshua remained cranky from Day 1 onwards and we have problems with both of them onboard in the sense that they refuse to eat and yet refuse to let us eat as they kept wanting attention or to be down from the baby chair to run. They can't drink their milk well without the rice powder which they are so used to over the past years. They also are not keen with the shows onboard and resulting us having to skip them. Yet we need to keep to the nap and bedtime which resulted that we have little time for ourselves. As Joshua was sick, we also have to ensure he receive more rest and usual.

If without the support from my parents and inlaws, I will think this trip is there to kill us. No rest and lots of stress only. I hope life will be better in our next trip in future. Nevertheless, its a good experience and we still have some good time with the family.

The following week after cruise aren't easy as well. I returned home early to help with the housework. I realised that there are so much clothes to wash and fold daily. I also need to wash so many dishes, bottles, etc... I also need to sweep / mop the floow and make the beds every morning. There are also much work to be done to prepare the kids to school before sending them over.

Sales do got a bit of hit during the past 2 weeks when my time management skills did not improve. My personal assistant also chose to quit her job at this time which means my time spent in office are generally administrative and servicing work and not so much of sales and business.

But in contrary, I think my relationship with the boys got better with more time spent with them over the past 17 days. I slept with them, played with them in the evening and morning and I managed to prayed and read my bedtime stories. I do feel good for in this area though Sales was somehow affected. They are certainly not easy kids and pretty active. Joshua is super sticky to mother and kept whining for smallest problem and Josiah still have problem with biting and scratching classmates in school. We sometimes do lose our patience.

Okay. I ended my post at 1:57am on 27th Feb and my helper have still not called us though her flight landed at 1:06am. Hope she boarded the plane and is alright.

Chinese New Year and Childcare Updates

Its the boys 3rd week in Childcare Centre today. Let have an update of what happened.

The first week was all "Half Days" and it seems okay with Josiah seemingly enjoying himself in a new environment while Joshua will cry for a few minutes everytime he reached the centre. Felin accompanied the boys for the 1st few days and she can withdraw herself shortly.

For the 2nd week, we tried putting them for full day. Both of them are unable to fall asleep and making a lot of noises there. The teachers asked if we can bring them back and we brought them home in the early afternoon. On the 2nd day, we took their pillows along and they can sleep for less than an hour. That was an improvement. On the 3rd and 4th day, they took a break from school because of runny nose. On the 5th day which happens to be CNY eve, Josiah went alone and he was all good for the half day he went. He enjoyed himself without even notice Felin was not around.

The 3rd week is after CNY and Josiah suddenly had a sharp change towards school. He was very reluctant to go school. He resisted violently and insisted to be carried. He cried non stop and vomitted while in school. We do not know the reason for this sudden change of behaviour. He cried for probably an hour on Day 1 and was told be cried shorter on Day 2. Today as I am writing this, it was his Day 3 of week 3 and I need to monitor him closely. He continue to cry violently and just a mention of the word "School" at home, he will shout "no", shake his hand and resist it. I'm really at a loss when I brought him to school today as I'm worried if this is bad for him psychologically if such crying persist. Maybe on Day 1, he cried so much that he hated school. Maybe he was frightened by the firecrackers, fireworks and lion dances during the CNY period in Malaysia. It remains a mystery.

As for Joshua, its not all plain sailing as well. He had chronic constipation which we need to pay attention on. He resisted passing motion which resulted in his stool getting harder and more painful to pass out. We are feeding him with stool softener twice daily and adjusting his diet. He still resist sitting on the potty and will cry violent about it.